Dem
47
GOP
53
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is an embarrassment to most of his family. That's not our best guess; his siblings and cousins have said it openly. That said, he's still a Kennedy, which means that being a politician—and, in particular, being rather disingenuous—is embedded deep in his DNA. There were a couple of reminders of that yesterday.
First, we've already written about the measles outbreak in Texas. And our main observations in that item were: (1) this may or may not be the fault of Donald Trump and/or Kennedy, and (2) voters are likely to blame them, regardless of whether or not the blame is deserved.
Kennedy would like to keep his new job. He also knows full well that Trump has little loyalty to him, and would be happy to make the HHS Secretary into a scapegoat, should the situation call for it. And so, although RFK Jr. has been broadly anti-vaccine for many years, and has specifically declared that the MMR vaccine is evil and causes autism, he's magically had a change of heart. Literally 2 days after a Cabinet meeting at which he decreed that the emerging epidemic in Texas was no big deal, Kennedy made this announcement on eX-Twitter:
My heart goes out to the families impacted by the current measles outbreak in TX. I recognize the serious impact of this outbreak on families, children, and healthcare workers.
Here at @HHSGov we have:
- Supported Texas Department of Health through technical assistance and vaccines (2K MMR doses through immunization program).
- Provided lab support to better track the virus causing the outbreak.
- Communicated with public health officials every day in all affected areas to support their response and ensure they have the resources they need.
- Provided communications materials for the affected populations in Low German.
- Updated the CDC website with guidance on measles management to include physician-administered outpatient vitamin A.
We will continue to fund Texas' immunization program. Ending the measles outbreak is a top priority for me and my extraordinary team at HHS.
We provide the full tweet for this reason: If we had not told you the source of this message, and instead had tried to present it as a tweet sent out by Anthony Fauci a couple of years ago, you would have bought it, right? Is there ANYTHING here that is inconsistent with the approach seen under Fauci and other grown-ups of administrations past? It gives us some hope that maybe thousands of innocent kids won't actually have to die in order to indulge Bobby Jr.'s conspiratorial thinking.
On the other hand, the other Kennedy-centric story of the day robs us of some of that hope. In an announcement that was clearly prompted by instructions from the White House, the HHS Secretary advised that the various federal research grants that have been awarded to Columbia University are going to be reviewed, because the administration does not believe the university has done enough to combat antisemitism. Kennedy decreed:
Anti-Semitism—like racism—is a spiritual and moral malady that sickens societies and kills people with lethalities comparable to history's most deadly plagues. In recent years, the censorship and false narratives of woke cancel culture have transformed our great universities into greenhouses for this deadly and virulent pestilence. Making America healthy means building communities of trust and mutual respect, based on speech freedom and open debate.
We would agree that antisemitism is a very bad thing, and should be resisted wherever possible. But does anyone really think that combating antisemitism is the main goal here? Or even one of the goals? Does some biochemist working on phenylacetone precursors, or some physicist trying to build a better laser, or some psychologist working on PTSD treatment strategies, have anything to do with the campus protests, or with the policies governing the protests? This is either: (1) another "cost-cutting" measure, or (2) a shot across the bow, warning that Columbia and other research universities better not say or do anything that runs contradictory to the administration's stated goals, or (3) both.
While we think Bobby Jr. is kooky, we don't think he's stupid. So, he undoubtedly knows that he's being used as a pawn here. But, as we note, he wants to keep his job, so when Trump says "jump," RFK says "Over the chemtrails?" (Z)